Light Blue 8.1

We’ve just released Light Blue 8.1, which builds on the success of Light Blue 8 by adding new features, improving existing features, and squashing bugs.

Light Blue 8.1 is a free update for all of our subscribers. You can install the update by using the “Check For Updates” command in Light Blue (which is in the Light Blue menu on macOS, or in the Help menu on Windows) or by downloading the installer from your Light Blue account.

Improved staff access restriction options

For businesses that have members of staff, you now have much more control over the parts of Light Blue that your staff can access. The new “Restricted” access level allows you to choose which features they can access, so you can disable access to sensitive information (such as finances) or entire sections of the app.

Windows performance improvements

We’ve made big improvements to our Windows app, making it more responsive and improving its graphics performance.

Simplified account password management

Changing your Light Blue account password no longer requires you to re-enter your password in the desktop app. This used to be a common source of confusion, and the new approach also allows you to permanently remove Light Blue 8.1 and above devices from your account without needing to change your account password. We’ve also introduced a new one-off setup code feature that allows you to add a device to your account without having to type your account password into it. This is perfect for adding members of staff or contractors without letting them know your main password.

Other changes

Light Blue 8.1 includes lots of other new features and bug fixes. Here’s a summary of the improvements that we’ve made:

Light Blue launches more quickly and the Preferences window takes less time to open.

The Preferences window has been reorganised, and the “General Preferences” and “Custom Fields” panels have been split up into tabs to make it easier to find the settings you’re looking for.

The speed of processing large data syncs has been improved, making the initial download of data onto a new computer much faster.

Client portal emails (for example, the ones that are sent when you publish a contract) are now sent from your default email account, so they can come from your email address rather than using our email servers.

Form and API submissions in the Inbox that contain a shoot date are now colour coded to show whether they clash with an existing event or enquiry.

Orders from theimagefile can now be sent to your Light Blue account and imported as new Sale records.

Your current SMS credit balance is now displayed in the text message dialog.

Improved our VAT report for use with the UK government’s new Making Tax Digital initiative.

Added a preference that lets you choose whether to allow members of staff that don’t have a password set to log into Light Blue.

In the staff login dialog, if you fail to enter the right password the existing password is automatically highlighted for you so that you can immediately start typing to correct it.

Added a staff-level default email account setting, so members of staff can automatically use their own email address when they create an email.

Contracts and contract templates now have an optional thank you URL. If you specify this, your client will be taken to that URL after they have completed the contract (and paid their booking fee, if you’re charging one). You could use this to take your client to a custom thank you page that you’ve created on your own website.

When publishing a contract that includes a form, you’re now warned if the selected form template has been deleted.

When accepting a contract, the “Mark Shoot As Confirmed” checkbox is now displayed for cancelled shoots as well as enquiries.

Added a second confirm dialog to the “Send All” and “Schedule All” buttons in the Outbox.

Fixed a timezone-related problem where items in the Outbox could be displayed as being sent on the wrong day.

Added a preference for whether you want to include prices in a printed production order.

Added default photographer and salesperson options for new Sale records. When you create a sale, if there’s an assigned resource with the role “photographer” or “salesperson” then they are always used, otherwise we use the new default staff.

The “Add New Contact” dialog now includes the contact notes field.

Added an “Automatically Check For New Versions Of Light Blue” checkbox to the Preferences window, to give you the option of only manually checking for updates.

When you trash a shoot, if its linked contacts aren’t linked to any other records then we now offer to move them to the trash as well.

Fixed a problem where the first item in the Inbox could have its details appear to be repeated appear to be repeated.

Fixed a problem on Windows where if you have the staff login dialog enabled, Light Blue could quit after doing a database upgrade instead of carrying on.

Fixed a character encoding problem with the export financial data tool.

Fixed a problem where the EventX mail-merge tags could use the wrong event’s details when used as part of a shoot that has multiple upcoming sessions and appointments.

Fixed a problem that could occur when querying for contacts using linked contact criteria.

Fixed a problem where un-ticking the mailing list opt-in box in the add contact dialog behaved as if you were ticking the box.

Fixed a bug where the contract dialog “you need to add contacts” label is displayed on all tabs, not just the signatories tab.

Fixed a rounding error that could occur when using the “Calculate Net & Tax Amounts From Gross Total” button in a purchase item.

Dragging an event in the calendar to another date or time is no longer interrupted by the calendar getting reloaded during the drag.